Joint Use of Ethernet Header Compression and Robust Header Compression

1. An apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code, where the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus to at least: perform, a first compression operation to an ethernet header of an ethernet packet data, comprising: determining that the ethernet packet includes an internet protocol packet; identifying at least one internet protocol packet within the ethernet packet data, wherein the determining that the ethernet packet includes the at least one internet protocol packet is based on an ethertype field of the ethernet header; and based on the determining, performing a second compression operation to an internet protocol header of the at least one internet protocol packet, wherein the second compression operation is based on at least one of a context or profile independent from that of the first compression operation, wherein based on the determining the first compression operation then gives at least one internet protocol packet or a pointer to where the at least one internet protocol packet starts to the second compression operation which operates on the at least one internet protocol packet according to the context or profile for transmission of the ethernet packet data to a peer, wherein the context or profile is supported by the peer.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of a context or profile comprises a compression context or profile configured for a data communications session.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the at least one of a context or profile is based on values associated with an ethernet header of the ethernet packet data.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory including the computer program code is configured with the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to: based on an identified type of an ethernet payload of the ethernet packet data being one of an IPv4 or an IPv6 type payload, determine a packet length of the at least one internet protocol packet; and for a case that a packet length of the ethernet packet data is longer than the packet length of the internet protocol packet, remove ethernet level padding bytes from the ethernet packet data.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the performing the first compression operation comprises providing to the second compression operation the at least one internet protocol packet or a pointer to a first packet of the at least one internet protocol packet for use by the second compression operation.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus comprises at least one user device or at least one base station of a communication network.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first compression operation comprises an ethernet header compression operation, and wherein the second compression operation comprises a robust header compression operation.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory including the computer program code is configured with the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to: receive a compression feedback message in a control protocol data unit.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the compression feedback message indicates ethernet header compression feedback, or a combined ethernet header compression feedback and robust header compression feedback.

10. An apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code, where the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus to at least: perform, a first decompression operation to an ethernet header of an ethernet packet data, comprising: determining that the ethernet packet includes an internet protocol packet; identifying at least one internet protocol packet within the ethernet packet data, wherein the determining that the ethernet packet includes the at least one internet protocol packet is based on an ethertype field of the ethernet header; and based on the determining, performing a second decompression operation to an internet protocol header of the at least one internet protocol packet, wherein the second decompression operation is based on at least one of a context or profile independent from that of the first decompression operation, wherein based on the determining the first decompression operation gives at least one internet protocol packet or a pointer to where the at least one internet protocol packet starts to the second decompression operation which operates on the at least one internet protocol packet according to the context or profile, wherein the context or profile is supported by the apparatus.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the at least one of a context or profile comprises a compression context or profile configured for a data communications session.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the at least one of a context or profile is based on values associated with an ethernet header of the ethernet packet data.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the at least one of a context or profile is associated with the ethernet header of the ethernet packet data, and wherein the ethernet packet data comprises IPv4 of IPv6 packets associated with the header of the at least on ethernet packet.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the performing the first decompression operation comprises providing to the second decompression operation the at least one internet protocol packet or a pointer to a first packet of the at least one internet protocol packet for use by the second decompression operation.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the apparatus comprises one of at least one user device or at least one base station of a communication network.

16. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the first decompression operation comprises an ethernet header decompression operation, and wherein the second decompression operation comprises a robust header decompression operation.

17. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the at least one memory including the computer program code is configured with the at least one processor to cause the apparatus to: communicate a compression feedback message in a control protocol data unit.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the compression feedback message indicates ethernet header compression feedback, or a combined ethernet header compression feedback and robust header compression feedback.